Issue 11

THE AMHERST

THE INDEPENDENT NEWSPAPER OF AMHERST COLLEGE SINCE 1868

STUDENT VOLUME CXLV, ISSUE 11 l WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 2, 2015

Men’s Soccer Advances to Final Four See Sports, Page 10 AMHERSTSTUDENT.AMHERST.EDU

Amherst Uprising Clarifies LongTerm Goals Elaine Jeon ’17 and Jingwen Zhang ’18 Assistant Editor-in-Chief and Managing News Editor

Kyra Gardner ’18, Photography Editor

Eighty-three percent of the student body voted to reject the Jeff as the unofficial mascot on Tuesday, Nov. 17.

Ninety percent of the student body responded to a poll released by the Association of Amherst Students.

Student Body Votes Against Lord Jeff Jingwen Zhang ’18 Managing News Editor Students voted to express their support for removing Lord Jeff as the college’s unofficial mascot in an Association of Amherst Students poll conducted on Tuesday, Nov. 17.

Eighty-three percent of students voted in favor of removing the Lord Jeff, and 17 percent against. The AAS released the poll’s results on Thursday, Nov. 19. In total, 1,606 students voted, which exceeded the AAS’s hopes for at least 1,200 responses and made for a 90 percent response rate.

The text of the poll specified that a vote to remove the mascot would not be equated to a vote in favor of a specific replacement mascot.

The poll also gave students the option of leaving comments regarding the vote, which were released along with the results of the poll.

In the comments section, many students proposed potential new mascots. Some commenters express\ed support for a moose mascot, while others argued against the moose.

Another popular mascot suggestion was the Amherst Frost.

The poll follows recent events at the college such as the placement of posters advocat-

ing for a change of mascot as part of the Amherst Uprising movement and a straw poll at a faculty meeting in which the faculty unanimously voted in favor of changing the mascot.

At the Amherst-Williams football game, students held posters clarifying their support for the Amherst athletes and not the mascot. In October, the AAS had released a letter in The Amherst Student detailing its stance against the Lord Jeff.

According to senator Sam Keaser ’17E, the vote in order to remove the Lord Jeff means that the AAS will initiate discussions about a potential new mascot next semester.

Students involved in the Amherst Uprising movement released a new statement on Wednesday, Nov. 18, clarifying facts regarding the events of the movement and outlining how they will continue addressing issues of discrimination on campus.

Published on the movement’s website, the statement said that the sit-in, which began on Nov. 12, was planned in light of recent events on other campuses nationwide such as Mizzou and Yale. Even though it was originally planned to be an hour-long event, the sit-in lasted nearly three full days, providing a forum in which students shared their experiences of racism and marginalization at the college with other students, faculty and administrators.

On the first day of the sit-in, a group of about 50 student representatives created a list of 11 demands for President Biddy Martin. In the statement, organizers of the movement addressed concerns about some of the demands, saying they did not intend the demands to be binding or “non-negotiable.”

“These students made the list of demands in haste,” the statement read. “The group responded with urgency and emotion; they also did not intend this list of demands to be the final list or the end of student efforts to bring about structural and social change on campus.”

The statement praised the email Martin sent to the campus community in response to the sit-in.

“Her email offered clarification and hope,” it said.

The statement also addressed claims, made by alumni on social media and in several online op-eds, that the movement took a negative stance toward free speech. “The movement, both at its inception and now, by no means intends to stifle free speech,” the statement

Continued on Page 3

AAS Seeks Student Input on College Council Seats Dan Ahn ’17 Managing News Editor The student body voted in favor of reserving two student seats on College Council for Association of Amherst Students senators in a poll conducted Nov. 11. The poll results have the potential to inform the Committee of Six’s revisions to the faculty handbook, which are set to take place in the spring.

Currently, the AAS president and four senators sit on College Council, which also includes faculty and administrators. However, while reviewing the faculty handbook last year, the Committee of Six found that there was no clause specifying that seats should be reserved for senators. According to AAS President Tomi Williams ’16, the council has been reserving seats for senators since at least 2009.

Professor of Art History Nicola Courtright, a former Committee of Six member who now chairs College Council, said students had recently expressed concerns to the faculty about

whether they had an official body that could represent their interests in the administration.

She said their concerns may have exacerbated by the resignation of Mariana Cruz as chief diversity officer.

“Last year, on the Committee of Six, where I served, we were concerned about too many AAS students, because the feeling was that even though they might be of diverse backgrounds, they don’t always represent the entire population,” Courtright said. “It may be the case that someone who runs for AAS may not be adequately representative of the student body. Or rather, that’s the sense that students have given me.”

The senate officially took a stance in favor of reserving two seats for senators and two for non-senators. Williams encouraged students to vote to reserve council seats by reaching out to each class on Facebook. He wrote, “senators are required — as their first priority — to represent the entire student body on any and all committees they serve in a way that at-

large members are not.” He also said senators on faculty committees can bring information about the committees’ work back to the AAS, and direct AAS resources toward or against committee projects.

The poll offered students the choice to either maintain two reserved seats for senators or to open up every seat on the council to the student body. With a turnout of 509 students, the results showed 63 percent in favor of reserving two seats and 37 percent opposed.

In an email interview, Courtright said the description of students seats in the faculty handbook is somewhat unclear.

“Of the five students, three are membersat-large from the freshman, sophomore and junior class elected each spring to serve throughout the following academic year,” the handbook says. “The president of the Student Government serves ex officio without vote during the academic year.”

Courtright said she had discussed the issue with Associate Dean of the Faculty Austin

Sarat in an attempt to figure out whether this meant there should be a total of five student members (including the AAS president) or six.

According to Courtright, they decided that the council should ideally have a total of six student members.

“The charge is written terribly, so we’ll have a conversation about membership and rewrite,” she said. Courtright suggested that the council could have one at-large member from each class in addition to one senator and the president.

College Council is the only committee of the faculty that also includes members from both administrators and the student body. It is also the faculty committee with the most student members. College Council discusses a wide variety of issues relating to student life and makes policy recommendations. Recently, the council has influenced policy related to gender inclusive bathrooms, renewing cable in the dorms and solidifying the academic calendar, among other issues.

News >>Nov. 25, 2015 12:07 a.m., 40 Dickinson St. An officer checked on an occupied vehicle parked behind a college building. The occupants were asked to leave college property.

9:06 a.m., Boltwood Avenue An officer and Environmental Health and Safety personnel responded to the bus stop where a bus was leaking fluid.

Remedial action was taken.

6:52 p.m., Wilson Admissions An officer discovered an unattended box of wine outside the building. It was disposed of. >>Nov. 26, 2015 11:16 p.m., Campus Grounds An officer checked on an occupied vehicle parked in a secluded area. After speaking with the occupants, they were advised to leave the area. >>Nov. 28, 2015 4:16 a.m., Moore Dormitory Officers responded to a complaint of several males causing a disturbance on the first floor.

Four people were identified as being involved and were di-

Daria Chernysheva Nov. 25, 2015 - Nov. 29, 2015

rected to end their activity for the night.

5:15 a.m., Moore Dormitory While responding to a disturbance, officers discovered an exterior door had been vandalized.

11:24 a.m., Amherst College Police An officer investigated a suspicious call from a male who was calling about an employee.

9:05 p.m., South College Dormitory An officer assisted a caller who was concerned about not hearing from a student for several days. >>Nov. 29, 2015 6:47 a.m., Valentine Dormitory Officers investigated a smoke detector sounding in a thirdfloor room and determined it was set off by an air freshener.

10:30 a.m., Campus Grounds An employee reported the theft of a black metal silhouette stature of Robert Frost stolen from the Evergreens property.

Interested in getting the scoop on the latest developments on campus?

s w e n e h t n i Jo ! ff a t s If you want to write for us, email dahn17@amherst.edu

Thoughts on Theses Department of English

Daria Chernysheva is an English major writing a thesis on the early translations of Shakespeare from French into Russian. As a sophomore, Chernysheva studied as a Folger Shakespeare Library fellow, which sparked her interest in Shakespeare’s emergence in imperialist Russia. Her thesis adviser is Professor Anston L. Bosman.

Q: Can you give me an overview of what your thesis is about?

A: I’m looking at the first translations of Shakespeare’s Hamlet to appear in Russia in the late 18th century and early 19th century. I will be mostly looking at their French analogues, and I hope to see a triangular relationship between England, Russia and France, which is buttressed by trade and the flow of ideas and literature. I have a theory that in the Russian translations, there is an interest in the conception of the state and national identity. I am particularly interested in how the emerging intelligentsia in Russia conceived of the state and its relationship to the West.

Q: Did intellectuals and writers in Russia at the time think that they could learn about the state or a sense of national identity from the Shakespeare?

A: It’s very difficult to say that these early translations are actually Shakespeare. In many cases, you will find writers denying any relationship with Shakespeare. Sumarokov, for example, was the first person to translate Hamlet from French into Russian in his 1748 work. When he was accused of butchering or falsely adapting Shakespeare, he said that his Hamlet has nothing to do with Shakespeare’s. Jean-Francois Ducis, the French translator of the 1769 Hamlet edition, which became the decisive translation and that made its way through Europe before Shakespeare’s work did, wrote on the title page of his translation “Imitated from the English.” His work is a warped clone or a sister of Shakespeare’s original play.

Q: When were the first translations done in the Russian?

A: In 1812, Viskovatov took the play by Ducis and produced the 1810 Russian translation of Hamlet. You can see that this is a very clear translation work. Viskovatov, however, makes no mention of Ducis or of Shakespeare himself. At this time, Shakespeare is being adapted on stage in Russia and Napoleon invades Russia in 1812. It’s a very patriotic play. What I examine is the patriotism and sense of national consciousness that emerges in that play.

Q: What generated your interest in this field?

A: I was at the Folger Shakespeare Library as an undergraduate fellow during my sophomore winter. I ended up reading about Shakespeare in Russia and looking at his incarnation up to his presence in the Soviet era. Much work has been done on Shakespeare in the Soviet era — on what was staged and repressed — but not so much work has been done on the early 19th century. In the 19th century, the Russian intelligentsia felt misunderstood and they identified with Hamlet. But the early incarnations of the play in the 18th century have not been studied as much, so that is what interested me.

Q: What are the major intellectual questions that you hope to explore through this research?

A: One of the big questions that has interested me is whether one should have a concrete sense of national identity before one has a sense of national literature, or whether a national literature precedes a national identity. It’s a bit of a chicken or egg question that doesn’t have a clear answer. I would personally argue that they tend to emerge at about the same time because literature often reflects its circumstances. I am also interested in

a conception of translation that is very different from how we think of translation today. Translation was not about being faithful to the original but improving it, editing it, and putting your own twists into it. It was very much a conversation, and imitation was one of the highest acts of honor that one could pay to another writer. The act of taking another’s work and doing your own writing in that style was very important in the late medieval period and the early Renaissance. Those concepts were still very present in the late 18th century in Russia.

Q: What are some of the challenges you have come across, especially in terms of encountering early translations and trying to use some of the theory you have read in order to understand them?

A: I have started to whittle down the core texts that I want to work with and have decided to focus on the core three by Sumarokov, Jean-Francois Ducis and Viskovatov. Those are the three primary texts I will be consulting. There’s a lot of academic work and a vague nebulous halo of research pertaining to these works. Professor Bosman encouraged me to go down the theory path, but I feel that my close reading skills are stronger. It is difficult because I am doing this project in the English department, but it is very inter-departmental. The difficulty is keeping my audience in mind and making sure I provide an appropriate amount of background information so that readers can contextualize my sources. I also want to make it an English project in terms of close reading and how I am engaging the texts.

Q: What do you think looking at these earlier texts might reveal about some of the later evolutions of Shakespeare in Soviet Russia?

A: These three works really don’t fit into that narrative. They are sort of the odd children of the group. By the middle of the 19th century, you see very faithful translations of Shakespeare in Russia, with the English often printed on the opposite page. By that point, the French have been cut out as the middle-men and Shakespeare is being engaged directly. As for the works I am looking at, it is difficult to say who they influenced or why they matter at all. A lot of critics dismiss them and say that they don’t matter, but I’m trying to prove that while they were not staged how Shakespeare’s Hamlet was staged in England, there is still some value in them.

Q: Finally, how might your research influence contemporary understandings of Shakespeare in translation?

A: I think this project is interesting for globalized Shakespeares. Many countries today have an easy time staging Shakespeare because they don’t have to adapt or conform. They don’t have to translate Hamlet into their language as their language was spoken in the 16th century. Some critics have pointed out that Shakespeare’s Hamlet is foreign to us as English speakers because he is temporally so distant. Contemporary, non-English speaking countries and stage groups ignore that problem because they translate directly into their modern speech. What interests me is how language is used across these three texts and how language contributes to a certain national identity. At that time in Russia, secular language and secular nationalism began to emerge. All of this is brewing in this pot that is my thesis.

— Jacob Pagano ’18

The Amherst Student • December 2, 2015

News

3

College Holds Open Forum on Student Workload Phillip Yan ’18 Staff Writer Faculty and students gathered in Johnson Chapel for a forum on students’ academic workload on Nov. 17. The forum was structured as an open mic event, and students took turns on stage discussing their experiences with workload.

One issue that students raised at the forum was a perceived lack of flexibility in certain academic requirements. For example, some students criticized Amherst’s credit system, which requires that seniors have 32 credits in order to graduate, because it forces students to spend an extra semester in school if they fail one course. Asa Goodwillie ’16 said that flexibility is necessary for students with personal difficulties, including mental health issues, to engage in academics.

Students also expressed anxiety about deadlines for academic work. They said that deadlines can frequently overlap among classes.

Students also said that while some professors are often willing to offer extensions on papers and other assignments, others have a no-extension policy or give extensions infrequently.

“I suggested that professors treat us like adult learners­­— that is to say, they stop assigning nightly reading responses that check our comprehension or give us inflexible deadlines for papers that feel arbitrary,” Gaby Mayer ’16, who spoke at the forum, said in an interview.

“Instead of having me work furiously between classes, I’d rather be trusted to get the work done whenever I could.”

Others said Amherst’s academic workload can prevent students from engaging in extracurriculars and make it difficult to deal with personal emergencies.

“My own view is that Amherst has relatively rigid policies around issues such as pass/ fail options, course withdrawal options, credit hours assigned, et cetera,” Dean of the Faculty Catherine Epstein wrote in an email following the forum.

Bonnie Drake ’17 said the workload can prevent students from thinking deeply about their coursework.

“I have cried reading legal theory before

Sophia Salazar ’18, Staff Photographer

Students work in Frost Cafe on the afternoon of Tuesday, Dec. 1. The college held a campus-wide forum on Nov. 17 to discuss students’ academic workload. because it is so beautiful,” Drake said in an interview. “I care deeply about learning. But I can’t immerse myself in learning when I have a thousand pages of reading to do in a weekend and papers to write. Oftentimes the sheer quantity of pages assigned means that we leave huge swaths of texts untouched by class discussion.”

Drake also suggested that assigning fewer texts could help to alleviate the financial burden of buying books for some students.

Some students said that large amounts of work tends to make students competitive rather than collaborative. They also said that the Latin honors system tends to encourage this competitiveness.

“Oftentimes, our workload prevents us from talking to each other about the cool stuff we are studying,” Mayer said. “In fact, it was

only when I stepped away from campus this fall for grad school interviews that I found myself able to revel in the awesome Islamic manuscript course that I’m currently taking, and the really interesting essays I was writing for that course. So there’s a mismatch there, because the hard work we do only really makes us feel good if we can share it with our peers.”

Konso Mbakire ’18 spoke about the experience she had with a peer tutor. She said that the availability of peer tutors needs to be better advertised, and that the Moss Quantitative Center should be expanded to allow faculty members to offer assistance in specific courses.

President Biddy Martin presented the idea for the forum at a faculty meeting on Nov. 3.

She said student members of the Committee on Educational Policy and members of the Multicultural Resource Center had met

with her separately and discussed the student workload. Dean of New Students Rick López ’93 said at the meeting that first-years often have trouble figuring out their priorities, and that college life can cause new mental health issues or amplify existing ones. “We’re trying to move them from consumers of knowledge to producers of knowledge, and for some of them that transition is hard, and it’s bruising to them,” López said.

According to Epstein, the Curriculum Committee, which was formed this year to advise the Committee on Educational Policy, is currently discussing the issues that were raised at the forum.

“I thought that the meeting was productive, and I’d like to thank all the students for participating, and to thank all the faculty for listening,” Epstein said.

Amherst Uprising Shifts Focus to Long Term Continued from Page 1

said. “Such allegations are misinformed and misguided.”

On Friday, Nov. 20, organizers released a second statement outlining the progress made by the committees that have been formed to address issues brought up over the course of the protest.

“After reflecting on the demands, students realized their goals would be best met by collaboration with administrators, faculty and staff over an extended period of time, rather than through immediate action,” the Nov. 20 statement said.

The organizers also updated and added details to their list of nine goals for the movement. The goals fall under nine categories, including “cultural competency,” “alumni and outreach” and “prospective students.” The full list will be available after Thanksgiving break, according to the website.

The Amherst Student contacted several leaders of the movement on Monday to inquire about the movement’s progress since publication of the two statements, but as of Wednesday they had not returned requests for comment.

Photo courtesy of Kaelan McCone ’19

Students gathered at the football team’s game at Williams on Nov. 14 to protest the use of the Lord Jeff as the college’s unofficial mascot. The protest took place at the same time as Amherst Uprising’s sit-in at Frost Library.

Opinion

THE AMHERST

STUDENT

Staying Involved Editorial

Back from Thanksgiving break, seniors have returned to campus for the tail end of their fall semester. As a graduating class gets ready to approach the “real world,” it is typical for its members to put aside class work and extracurricular activities in favor of bar nights and finding a job. Unfortunately, it can be easy to forget about the community they’ve called home for their most formative years.

Senioritis can also apply to the communal obligations that come with being a student at Amherst. Seniors on their way out may feel like issues no longer pertain to them, since they will not be here long enough to see cultural or structural changes put into place. Yet, the senior class, having lived on campus and been a part of this community for four years, has crucial contributions to make for current and future students. We would argue that it is the obligation of the class of 2016 to participate fully in conversations about campus life, especially in the wake of the Frost sit-in.

Members of the class of 2016 have seen massive changes during their time at Amherst, particularly with regards to student activism.

In the fall semester of 2012, the Association of Amherst Students organized the Rally to End Silence and marched with more than 200 students from Amherst and the Five Colleges to the front of

Converse Hall to demand change. Since then, activism at Amherst has seen a resurgence, and we’ve had many difficult but important conversations about sexual assault, mental health, racism and other topics. The Frost sit-in and resulting Amherst Uprising movement would not have been possible without this resurgence in activism.

Many members of the class of 2016 have played key roles in the conversations about race and racism that have been going on at Amherst. But these conversations would be enriched even more if a greater number of seniors added their voices. (And, on the flip side, it’s important for newer members of the community to speak up too: First-years come to Amherst with fresh eyes and have valuable perspectives that need to be shared.)

By virtue of the experience and knowledge the class of 2016 has of this campus and the changes it has undergone, its members are in a prime position to share their experiences and contribute to cultural and structural change. Just because you will soon move on from Amherst does not mean that the changes here will not affect you.

And, even if they don’t affect you, they will affect this community.

Each of us has an obligation to leave this campus a better place for the students who come after us.

Republican Xenophobia Eddie Rego ’19 Staff Writer The attacks in Paris and terrorism abroad have led many Republicans to make bigoted comments and continue to push for xenophobic policies. Trump is not alone; many people share his prejudice. If Republicans believe that they can convince the American electorate of the “merits” of their xenophobic policies, they will be quick to learn: They can’t and they won’t.

With regard to the ISIS attack on Paris, Donald Trump spoke out in fury against President Obama’s decision to allow Syrian refugees to immigrate to the United States over the next few years. Trump said, “We have no idea who these people are ... this could be one of the great Trojan horses” (implying that the Syrian refugees are potential terrorists in disguise). Trump didn’t stop there.

He went on to say, “Our country has tremendous problems. We can’t have another problem.”

This isn’t Trump’s first outrageous comment on immigration. As we all know, he proclaimed Mexican immigrants to be “murderers” and “rapists.” One would expect that after such remarks Trump’s poll numbers would immediately dive and any hope of a presidential run would be history. Instead, Trump has become the political phenomenon of the decade. His xenophobic remarks have propelled his poll numbers through the roof. What this highlights is a shockingly clear ethnocentric sentiment within the Republican Party.

Some will say that Trump (one of the leading Republican presidential candidates), does not represent the Republican dogma, that his remarks reflect only his own agenda and not his party’s. His popularity, however, seems to say otherwise. Whenever Trump makes a hideously outra-

geous or insensitive comment his poll numbers shoot sky-high. You need not look further than recent statements he has made to confirm this correlation: He has argued that mosques should be placed under surveillance or that Obama is (still?) a closeted Muslim, and that Black Lives Matter protesters deserve to be “roughed up.” Yet none of these outrageous statements has made a dent in his poll numbers.

Trump’s immigration comments struck a Republican nerve, a sentiment shared by a large proportion of the Republican base that is outright tired of what they see as “political correctness.” Perhaps this helps explain Trump’s unlikely success. Instead of implicitly expressing his prejudice (as many candidates have), he makes no attempt to hide it — and somehow is celebrated for doing this.

Ben Carson, the same man who stated that being gay is a choice because “a lot of people ... go into prison straight — and when they come out, they’re gay,” also later argued that the U.S. should never elect a Muslim president. Jeb Bush stated that “anchor babies” is an appropriate term for children born in the U.S. to undocumented mothers. Chris Christie advocated having individuals on visas monitored using a “FedEx style tracking device,” suggesting immigrants are more akin to packages than human beings.

While it’s true that Democrats are not immune from making ethnocentric remarks — let’s not forget how Democratic presidential hopeful Martin O’Malley once responded to a crowd chanting “Black lives matter” by saying, “All lives matter” — the xenophobia is overwhelmingly displayed on the Republican side of the aisle. Currently, 31 U.S. governors have stated that they will refuse any Syrian refugees. Not surprising-

ly, 30 out of 31 of those governors are Republicans. In this respect, I believe the GOP is on the wrong side of history.

How do you explain to the party that attempts to treat the LGBTQ community as second-class citizens, that gay or transgender individuals are an integral part of our nation’s prosperity? How do you explain to the party of anti-immigrant sentiment and of fervent opposition to the Fourteenth Amendment that America was founded by immigrants and continues to be positively molded by them? How do you explain to a party that considers the Muslim faith as equal to terrorism, that a Muslim citizen is equivalent, in the eyes of the United States Constitution, and in all other relevant aspects, to a Christian citizen? Hiding behind ideology does not excuse bigotry. To state that Syrian refugees, many of whom are widows and orphans, are potential terrorist threats is the epitome of xenophobia and, ultimately, of misplaced fear. But from where does this xenophobia stem?

There are, as it turns out, scientific explanations behind such irrational human behavior. Carlos David Navarettte of the Association of Psychological Science explains xenophobia as having evolutionary roots.

Evolutionarily speaking, we grew to form “in-groups” and “out-groups” in order to increase the likelihood of survival. In a news release written for Psychological Science, a journal of the Association for Psychological Science, Barbara Isanski wrote: “It’s known that people are more fearful of ‘out-groups’ — that is, people who are different from them, and this fear of ‘the other’ has been clearly demonstrated with race.” In fact, there has been increasing attention in psychological research given to unconscious racism.

One of the more shocking stud-

ies on the matter, published in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, was titled “The Police Officer’s Dilemma: Using Ethnicity to Disambiguate Potentially Threatening Individuals” (Correll et. al.

2002). In the study, Denver police officers were shown several images of white and black college-aged males, some holding a deadly weapon (like a gun), others holding a non-deadly weapon (like a wallet) and were given less than a second to press a “shoot” button or a “don’t shoot” button. The study found that more often than not, the black male holding a wallet was “shot” in the study while the white male holding a gun was not. The study was a reminder that racism comes in many forms: conscious AND unconscious. This is undoubtedly an uncomfortable truth.

These findings, however, are no justification for bigotry. Quite the opposite. They should motivate us to work towards achieving awareness of these internal prejudices and on educating ourselves against our more primal inclinations. Awareness and education are the keys to eradicating systemic xenophobia, and they can be the cure to the Republican malaise as well.

This is as relevant here at Amherst, where awareness and education of minority sentiment are gradually progressing, as they are in the political world. There is no longer room for ethnocentrism. To the Republican presidential candidates: We should come to expect more from those who seek the highest office in the land. If you wish to become the most powerful person in the world, you must first prove that you are worthy of that power and worthy of emulation as a role model. Thus far, your explicit xenophobia has stood in the way. The American people are watching. The time to change is now.

E X E C U T I V E B OA R D Editor-in-Chief Sophie Murguia Assistant Editor-in-Chief Elaine Jeon Managing News Dan Ahn, Jingwen Zhang Managing Opinion Johnathan Appel, Sunna Juhn Managing Arts and Living Paola Garcia-Prieto, Alida Mitau, Julia Pretsfelder Managing Sports Lauren Tuiskula, Jason Darell, Drew Kiley Managing Design Gabby Bishop S TA F F

Publishers Emily Ratte, Tia Robinson Design Editors Katherine Chen, Megan Do, Adele Loomis, Zavi Sheldon, Yrenly Yuan Assistant News Editors Ryan Cenek, Carlos Rivero Assistant Sports Editors Jeremy Kesselhaut, Jason Stein Photography Editor Kyra Gardner

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The Amherst Student • December 2, 2015

Opinion

5

On Language and Culture Queeriosity

Silvia Mavares ’18 Contributing Writer Queeriosity is a column dedicated to discussing LGBTQ student life at Amherst College. If you are interested in contributing to the Queeriosity column, contact the Amherst College Queer Resource Center at qrc@amherst.edu.

As an activities coordinator at the Queer Resource Center, I recently helped put on an event that focused on the ways in which language shapes conversations about gender and sexuality. It was incredibly interesting to hear so many people describing their own experiences with their mother tongue and the ways in which the language they grew up with affected the way they thought and spoke about gender and sexuality.

I’ve been thinking a lot about the growth of the United States’ immigrant population, and the increase in families separated by a language barrier when discussing certain topics. Because many Latin American cultures tend to be conservative and involved with religion, parents who grew

up in Latin America were often not exposed to positive conversations about sexuality or gender.

Furthermore, the Spanish language itself is not conducive to productive conversations about sexuality and gender. While some words used to talk about sexuality and gender do exist, they are used so rarely that they simply do not feel natural.

The question then becomes: Should it be up to their U.S. educated and influenced kids to bring them into the conversation? An added layer of difficulty to this belief is that in Latin American culture, kids are taught the importance of respecting their elders. Is pointing out homophobia, transphobia or cissexism then considered disrespectful? If we can agree that it’s not, how can

Too Much Work?

Samuel Rosenblum ’16 Columnist At the Nov. 17 faculty meeting, Dean of the Faculty Catherine Epstein invited students to speak about academic workload. Students spoke about how they juggled academics alongside work study jobs, familial and personal issues, extracurricular and athletic commitments and sleep. They called on faculty members to be more flexible with deadlines. They spoke about how fear permeated Amherst classrooms. Interestingly, the stories, grievances and suggestions which students shared did not wholly cohere around the idea that we have too much work.

That said, it may be the case that we have too much work. So much work that we cannot think.

The sheer amount of time we spend reading and writing may leave little or no time for critical reflection on what we’ve read and written. But it also may be the case that we perceive that we have too much work, that other matters, structures and policies impede our critical inquiry. In other words, we might feel obliged to divide our time between academic thought (broadly understood) and other commitments. Surely, at the best of the liberal arts, the thoughts that we want to work through in and because of our classes should not be limited to the time and space of those classes. Surely we should not be in the business of defensively circumscribing a time and space for academic thought. So, let me pose some questions (and even perhaps a few concrete solutions) about academic workload.

The pragmatic question we must ask is this: How does the college authorize space and time to think outside the classroom? That is to say, what sorts of spaces, options and opportunities do administrators grant or withhold from students that engender or circumscribe critical thought? I pose these questions to take stock of three issues so part of our social fabric here that we may not always think about them: competition, extracurriculars and technology.

Competition – As I noted, at the recent meeting between students and faculty on workload, multiple students exclaimed that fear governed Amherst classrooms. What I suspect constitutes such fear is competition, an academic competition so ubiquitous in the entire American educational system that we usually don’t pay any attention to it.

Competition produces what Meghna Sridhar ’14 in What’s Left at Amherst named “the Amherst work ethic,” an excessive, unhealthy, unreasonable, demanding, self-imposed productivity. It is a competition against others whose manifestation can only come as success, fostering a perverse desire to work absurdly hard at the expense of self-care. It encourages us to dominate and triumph over other students. However, such competition will only turn into success for some, never for all. Some take time

off, others drop out, some resign. And for many, competition devolves into envy of others, fear of speaking up, panic at the lack of time or despair of one’s own intellectual thought.

What I think we have to understand is that we cannot and will not succeed in any sort of intellectual project as individuals. What we require is an academic community. A community predicated on the notion that no student can ever master an entire field of study, or even an entire sub-field, limited as we are by this obvious fact: We are not academic gods, but mortal human beings. Any sort of academic or social project this college can aspire to must be predicated on collaboration, not competition, a community constituted by the multitude of different, contradictory and critical questions different students pose.

For the student, passion, desire and love — feelings which aspire to community — should generate intellectual inquiry. Using this piece itself: I don’t write critiques of Amherst because I dislike Amherst. Quite the opposite. I write them because there are some things, events and spaces at Amherst that I very much love and want to see expanded and broadened.

So, as Ryan Arnold ’15 suggested in the Amherst Disorientation Guide, we might consider ending the policy which bases Latin honors on class rank (on the precondition that one writes a thesis). Base it on quality of scholarship. Perhaps we should ensure students are taking courses and completing majors not because they want to get certain jobs but because there are questions those disciplines pose which students desire to answer. In short, let’s ensure that academic policies discourage competition and generate both academic desire and community.

Extracurriculars/Athletics – We have to reconsider the place and role of extracurriculars and athletics at the college. Are they supplementary or complementary to the academic project? This is probably obvious, but: Passing 32 classes will let you graduate from Amherst. Performing in 32 a cappella shows, playing in 32 football games or raising $3,200 for charity will not.

So, we must ask, why 32 courses? To answer that, we must realize that 32 courses is never sufficient to fulfill Amherst’s own intellectual project in any individual student. At best, 32 courses will generate critical inquiry that will manifest itself well beyond the confines of the classroom and Amherst. The walls between curricular and extracurricular are at least porous, at best nonexistent.

So figuring out why we are here — what it means to work and study academically at Amherst — requires that we ask about the line between academic and extracurricular activities.

Technology – My generation spends large amounts of time surfing through the abyss known as the Internet. Such time spent is frequently a dis-

we move forward into having these conversations in languages different than the ones we are used to? These questions have been plaguing my mind since the QRC’s event, because they are affecting not only me, but also many others who are in similar situations.

One of the major issues that came up at the QRC’s event is the conflation of gender and sexuality that often occurs in Latin American cultures. For example, gay men are commonly referred to with she/her/hers pronouns, not only by outsiders, but also by those within their own community. Though I can appreciate the desire to reclaim something that is used against them by homophobes, it also serves to further confuse communities that are already under-informed on matters of gender and sexuality. In novelas, gay men are almost exclusively portrayed as either excessively flamboyant hairdressers or fashion designers. A woman who likes women is offensively dubbed marimacha, indicating that she acts like a man. Not only does this term perpetuate femme erasure, but it also ignores the fact that a person’s sexual orientation is independent of their gender identity. These problematic situations are likely results of the strict, socially embedded gender roles

that are so common in the Latinx community.

These gender roles are only further propagated by the fact that the Spanish language forces speakers to gender everything. There is no way to speak about someone without gendering them. Though there have been recent movements to adopt gender-neutral options to speak in Spanish, they are mostly only talked about in small circles of activists. For example, using “Latinx” instead of “Latinos” is more inclusive, since it accounts for people who do not identify within the gender binary or use gender-neutral pronouns. It has also been proposed that an entirely new pronoun, elle, be introduced as a gender-neutral option. However, it has not been properly recognized by the Real Academia Española (RAE), the institution in charge of overseeing and amending the Spanish language.

Even if the RAE made changes to the Spanish language to include gender-neutral options and an increased vocabulary to talk about gender and sexuality, I don’t think I would feel any differently than I do now about having these conversations in Spanish. Perhaps the discomfort is more deeply rooted in the culture than in the language. Despite the discomfort, these difficult conversations are often the most important to have.

Letter to the Editor Joel M. Upton Professor of Art and the History of Art, Emeritus, Amherst College

During the afternoon of Thursday, Nov. 12, I was caught up in the rip-tide like force of a collective cri de coeur in the foyer of the Frost Library. As I listened to the passion of individual voices from widely different backgrounds and circumstances, a newly installed sign visible on the second floor voiced a silent longing focused by the moment: “Amherst College Center for Humanistic Inquiry.” Is it possible that three words added to this sign could in one awakening act reveal one source of a profound intellectual, social and pedagogical problem at the college and become the beginning of progress toward a solution?

By including “and human awareness” (Amherst College Center for Humanistic Inquiry and Human Awareness), we might discover the devastating impoverishment of exclusive disembodied rationalistic inquiry at the core of arbitrary objective superiority animating the many self-serving “isms” that weigh so heavily on us all. Would, even, that the entire college might be a center for humanistic inquiry and human awareness.

Forty-four years ago, during my first week at Amherst College, I attended a dinner welcoming me and other new faculty to the community. As the evening wore on, a very distinguished elder of the college offered me gently the following avuncular advice: “You appear to be a decent and intelligent young man. Please allow me to give you something to remember while you are here. There are two realities in the world. There’s science and there’s bullshit. What you do is bullshit. Just make it good bullshit.”

As a teacher who has worked over the years to seek out the art of works of art, I have come increasingly to the sad recognition that “Professor Wiseman” was not only correct, but that he had himself voiced the latter of his two realities. The events of last

traction. At the same time, the Internet and the computer, as technologies, are not neutral to academic thought. While they distract us, they also pose important questions we must think about. In order to have the time to manifest these thoughts, we must have the space to think without those awesome technologies, only within our own minds and in conversation with each other. So the college should create Wi-Fi-free zones. Prohibit hand-held electronic devices in some spaces. Places of leisure, calm and repose, where we cannot be distracted

Thursday revealed yet again that in truth there is only one enduring reality. Art and science like all constructions of imagination are nothing other than human, each comprising the full range of intellectual, sensual and emotional potential.

As the tide of anger and frustration on all sides slowly recedes, we might even hear the lingering wisdom of Rainer Maria Rilke’s poetic voice from the early years of the 20th century before the turmoil of world war challenging us all to embody a “more human love.” Writing to a young man who had asked for advice, Rilke wrote: “… Someday (and for this, particularly in the northern countries, reliable signs are already speaking and shining), someday there will be girls and women whose name will no longer signify merely as opposite of the masculine, but something in itself, something that makes one think, not of any complement and limit, but only of life and existence: the femi nine human being. This advance will (at first much against the will of the outstripped men) change the love-experience, which is now full of error, will alter it from the ground up, reshape it into a relation that is meant to be one human being to another, no longer of man to woman. And this more human love (that will fulfill itself, infinitely considerate and gentle, and kind and clear in binding and releasing) will resemble that which we are preparing with struggle and toil, the love that consists in this, that two solitudes protect and border and salute each other.”

Is this the love that will heal the pain of exclusivity, arbitrary entitlement, separation and despair, not to say unrelenting fatigue? If so, perhaps then Rilke’s other insight, “killing is a form of our wandering mourning,” including all acts, however seemingly innocuous, that would reject or disparage other by any means, will inexorably give way to the intimated relational wholeness of true art, science and beauties of every kind that will embody Rilke’s “more human love.”

and accelerated by external technologies.

To critically ask whether we are bombarded with too much work is to ask what sort of lived experience Amherst desires for its students. Intertwined with that question is the matter of what we are doing here. The three issues I have raised are necessary ones to discuss if we hope to figure out, as a community, what we are doing here. Especially in light of Amherst Uprising, we have already discovered that it is too late for us not to consider them.

Arts&Living

Photo courtesy of Lehua Matsumoto ’18

Photo courtesy of Nathanael Lane ’18

Nate Lane ‘18 combines visual art with math, physics and computer science to design a program that creates visual patterns in response to sound waves and music.

Artist Spotlight: Nate Lane ’18 Combines Music, Visuals and Technology Julia Pretsfelder ’18 Managing A&L Editor

change in response to sounds.

The idea was that you can project it onto a wall at a party or a concert and have something that hopefully adds to the experience in a unique way.

There’s also kind of an instrumental component, where you can push buttons and turn knobs to change how the visuals react to the music.

Q: How did you originally come up with the idea for this project?

A: I’m not entirely sure where it came from. I tend to have “aha” moments, where I’m thinking about something tangentially related and then the idea just occurs to me more or less fully fledged.

To be honest, I think part of it was that I was here in Amherst over the summer and at one point the IT department was giving away old equipment, like DVD players, audio mixers, etc. My friend managed to grab a projector, and we were wondering what we could or would actually do with it.

In general, I tend to work on projects that combine a wide range of disciplines. Switching between different subject areas and ways of thinking keeps me interested and motivated.

Photo courtesy of Nate Lane ’18

A self-portrait of Lane ‘18 with dynamic contrast.

Q: What arts are you involved in?

A: I do visual art, digital design and drawing. My favorite media are ink and charcoal — really like the high contrast you can get.

Q: Describe your current project.

A: I’ve described my current project half-jokingly to my friends as mashing together music and visual art using my three favorite subjects: computer science, math and physics.

It’s a computer program that generates visual patterns that

Q: Do you think you entered your project with a clear-cut intention? If so what? Did this intention change?

A: Like I said a little bit above, I was struck with a pretty clear vision of what I wanted to accomplish and more or less stuck to it. So my intention from the get-go was to do a music visuals thing.

I did spend quite a while though considering what type of pattern or interaction would look best combined with music, and the direction I ultimately chose was definitely influenced both by videos people sent me of similar kinds of visual music projects and by the technical limitations of what kind of computing power I had on hand to make this work.

Q: What do you think about the relationship between music and visuals? How were you trying to express that with code?

Did you choose certain types of music to work with?

A: I think music and rhythm naturally lead us to make synesthetic connections, especially visual ones. Dancing is a pretty obvious example. It seemed kind of fun to take that relationship and explore and mess around with it in a very abstract way.

Computer graphics for me were simply an effective way to connect music with a type of visual that is of a very similar

form to traditional hand-drawn images.

I tried to design the project to be adaptable to a wide range of musical styles, but I think it will take some more experimentation to find out if certain genres work really well or if some just don’t match.

I’ve tried to keep the code pretty general as well, so down the line I can plug in different visual styles. I’m really starting to see the project as a general platform rather than as a one-off art piece.

Q: What do you think about the relationship between computer science and visual art?

A: Computer graphics is a really big industry. Most of the research is in ways of essentially approximating photography, like physically accurate lighting and reflections, but I’m really fascinated in generating images that imitate art rather than life.

In some ways it’s a much harder problem, adding in the irregularities and imperfections that make a CGI image look convincingly like a line drawing done by hand, for instance.

While a lot of it is fairly dry and technical, I think there is definitely an art in deciding when and where to use different computer rendering techniques so that the result is visually pleasing.

Q: Do you have a plan for where you hope to see this project go?

A: I’m starting to build it out as more of a platform for different types of visuals rather than as a one-off thing. Maybe instead of ripples, try and make it look like frost patterns for a winter-themed party. Things like that.

But yeah — I hope to see it get projected places. See what people think about it, how they react. Maybe open-source the code and give it away on the Internet, see if it ends up anywhere.

Q: What do you think we can do about having more art on Amherst campus in general?

A: I like the idea of guerilla art. Random acts of chalking.

Make prints of a painting you did and hang them among the posters across campus. Do a “street performance” in front of Keefe during the Grab ’n’ Go rush hour.

I know, kind of dumb suggestions, honestly, but I like the concept of this sense of wonder or curiosity you get when you unexpectedly encounter the exceptional, or at least the unusual, in a mundane setting.

Arts & Living 7

The Amherst Student • December 2, 2015

“Creed” Takes a Modern Spin on the Old and Beloved “Rocky” Movies Mark Simonitis ’19 Staff Writer It seems almost impossible that 40 years after Sylvester Stallone introduced audiences to Rocky Balboa, another movie emerged from the iconic franchise. What seems even more impossible is that the movie is good, good enough to earn a place in the upper echelons of “Rocky” movies. Director Ryan Coogler shows us just how hard it is to keep a champion franchise down.

“Creed” opens in 1998, introducing us to the character of Adonis Johnson, the illegitimate son of former heavyweight champion, Apollo Creed. The movie begins with a young Adonis, played be Michael B. Jordan, languishing in juvenile detention. He picks fights and goes through foster home after foster home until he receives a visit from Apollo’s wife, Mary Anne Creed, played by Phylicia Rashad. Mary Anne Creed takes the boy in and raises him as her own son.

The film then switches to the present as Adonis leaves his comfortable blue-collar job to pursue a career as a boxer. He moves to Philadelphia, where he convinces his father’s former nemesis and best friend, Rocky Balboa (Sylvester Stallone), to train him. In true “Rocky” tradition, Adonis gets a shot at the title against “Pretty” Ricky Conlan, played by Anthony Bellew, and takes the opportunity to prove his worth.

Michael B. Jordan’s character revolves around one central theme: legacy. Throughout most of the film, Adonis refuses to be called Creed, wanting to make a name for himself and to step away from his father’s shadow. When Adonis must fight as a Creed in order to fight againt Conlan, he is forced to come to terms with his legacy and his sense of self-respect. The result is a touching gesture that I don’t want to spoil for any fellow Rocky fans. However, while this theme is certainly a compelling one, it isn’t exactly original.

Rocky Balboa is the heart and soul of this movie. I was worried that the legendary Italian Stallion would be regulated to a glorified cameo, but I was happy to be proven wrong. I was even happier with how Sylvester Stallone played the role that he could have easily abandoned. This Rocky feels like the natural progression of the Rocky we’ve been watching for 40 years. Instead of the young boxer spoiling for a fight, Rocky has aged into an old man who’s tired of fighting

Photo courtesy of www.efilmsworld.com

Michael B. Jordan plays a modern Rocky Balboa in “Creed,” and in one scene he is trained by the old Rocky himself. and wants to be reunited with Adrian, Mickey and the rest of his friends and family. When Adonis finally convinces Rocky to train him, a bit of life seems to surge back in to the old man, and you find yourself cheering for Rocky once more.

Just like Adonis, “Creed” doesn’t want to mimic the successes that came before. Adonis wants to earn a reputation as an individual fighter, and Coogler wants to earn the right to place his stamp on the franchise. While Adonis waits until the end of the film to embrace his legacy, Coogler starts right out of the gate. It almost seems that Coogler is attempting to distinguish himself by openly embracing “Rocky” forerunners. “Creed” is littered with old “Rocky” footage, training montages, the classic soundtrack and it follows the familiar formula that the series has followed for four decades. This is the movie’s greatest strength and its greatest weakness.

On one hand, “Rocky” themes are still around for a reason — everyone loves rooting for the

underdog. On the other hand, “Creed” makes the same mistakes of some of its predecessors.

The previous “Rocky” movies could be roughly divided into two categories: the ones that you watched all the way through and the ones where you fast forwarded to the action. This movie falls somewhere in the middle — I only wanted to fast forward through any scene where Adonis’ girlfriend Bianca, played by Tessa Thompson, is the focus.

Much unlike Rocky’s courtship of Adrian in the original movie, Adonis and Bianca’s relationship is rushed and doesn’t seem to contribute to the main plot. It’s hard to care about this romance when it stays on the sidelines. Even Bianca’s presence at Adonis’ final fight seems unnecessary and forced. Those seeking a break from the boxing aspect of a boxing movie may enjoy her character more than I did.

In terms of boxing, this movie had a lot to live up to. Regardless of which “Rocky” you watch, each and every one of them boasts some

of the finest boxing ever put on film and “Creed” is no different. Coogler provides two different takes on the sport, and each is remarkable in its own way. The movie’s first fight pits Adonis against a Philadelphia fighter, and it is filmed in what is made to look like a single take from inside the ring. The camera acts like a third participant, bobbing and weaving along with the fighters in a masterfully orchestrated sequence.

In the second fight, Adonis takes on Conlan in a classic “Rocky” style bout that isn’t as innovative, but still succeeds greatly with the audience cheering for the lead.

If you go to “Creed” expecting anything other than a “Rocky” movie, you’re going to be disappointed. The film mirrors the magnificent journey of Rocky Balboa and doesn’t really do anything to try and change up the formula. Instead, it shows why the “Rocky” brand has endured for so long, even if it trips over the romantic aspect. Hopefully, we’ll get to see Jordan and Stallone together again before too long.

A Musical Guide to Surviving and Thriving During These Final Weeks Evan Paul ’18 Staff Writer We have been dreading it all semester: finals week. Everyone knows the feeling of impending doom that clouds the campus during this time of year, but I am here to tell you it doesn’t have to be this way. No, unfortunately, exams and papers are not canceled, but here are a few things to help you out during those times when giving up seems like the easiest plan of action. Without further ado, here are a few musical tips and tricks that are sure to make studying a little easier.

While Studying for a Big Exam My biggest tips when studying for something important are: Keep your favorite bands out of the situation entirely, and become familiar with an app or website that specializes in playlists. When you desperately need to pay attention, you should eliminate all distractions from the task at hand. Streamlining your focus using music is a great way to do this. However, no matter how much you think you can stop yourself from dancing around or belting along with your favorite band’s latest album, I promise that you most likely can’t. Everyone’s guilty of it. I know I am. Previously curated playlists, or better yet playlists created by someone else, ensure that you won’t be constantly switching the song and falling prey

to the lure of your electronic screen and all the distractions it has to offer. Good apps and websites include Spotify, 8tracks and iTunes Radio (the 1975 station and Haim station are both stellar).

While Writing a Research Paper Just like you don’t want to distract yourself from your textbook, you also don’t want to distract yourself from your own train of thought!

For reading and writing, I suggest taking on the full album approach. I’ve personally found that listening to one artist while writing is the most ideal way to go about things, because with an album there usually won’t be a ton of variation, so you can focus on your thoughts. Usually each song on the album will sound different, but coupled with the other tracks, the effect will be a uniform sound that coasts easily through your ears. Your favorite, more subdued artists are best for this tactic. You should be able to mindlessly hum along to them without distracting yourself completely. Here are a couple of my favorite artists to listen to when I write:

Alabama Shakes: Their newest release from earlier this year, “Sound & Color,” is full of slow tracks that are interesting enough to keep your ears happy but your mind focused on what’s important. Also, lead singer Brittany Howard is awesome, which should be reason enough to listen.

Mary Lambert: You probably remember Mary Lambert from her collaboration with Macklemore, “Same Love.” Well, it turns out she has her own full album of tracks with spoken word pieces sad enough to make you cry, as well as covers that will make you rethink your entire understanding of the original songs.

stress. If you struggle with this issue, I suggest you get out of bed, close out of Netflix and crank up your favorite upbeat songs to jam out to. If you love the music, you’ll probably start dancing, which will in turn get your blood pumping. Once that’s happened, convince yourself that these hellish weeks are almost over and that you can do it, because you can!

My suggestion for what to listen to in this case is very simple: Listen to what you love, listen to the song you know all the words to, listen to what makes you happy.

Logic: East Coast rapper Logic recently released his second full-length effort, titled, “The Incredible True Story.” With this album, Logic takes a fairly nuanced approach and creates an album that tells a story through its songs and skits. While this album may err on the side of distracting, it’s still nice to listen to, and if you’re struggling with a creative project, it is sure to get those creative juices flowing.

While Taking a Break

Grizzly Bear: This New York based quartet makes music with artfully blended harmonies and synthesizers so nice that they will make you forget you’re doing work at all. Check out their 2009 album “Veckatimest.”

This is one of the most stressful times of the year, and that means that sometimes you just want to sit in bed and watch “Parks and Recreation” instead of doing work. It’s the natural response to mind-crippling

Photo courtesy of www.efilmsworld.

Arts & Living 8

The Amherst Student • December 2, 2015

“Brooklyn” Offers a Resonant Take on a Classic Immigrant Story Samantha O’Brien ’18 Staff Writer It is 1952 and young Eilis Lacey (Saiorse Ronan) is tired of her small Irish hometown. Her sole income comes from her part-time job as a shop worker under the insufferable Mrs. Kelly, and dating prospects are limited. Life, as she imagines it, exists elsewhere for her, so with a heavy heart Ellis abandons her mother and sister and everything she has ever known for the mystical faraway land of Brooklyn, New York.

Eilis boards a cramped steamship and is taken under the wing of a more seasoned Irish migrant, who instructs her to not eat the food on the ship, throw on some lipstick and liner and “think like an American.” Her naiveté is highly apparent, and she is wholly unprepared for the less than glamorous Brooklyn that awaits her.

In Brooklyn, she finds herself boarding with a mishmash of giddy, babbling Irish and American women among whom she is clearly an outsider. Her plain, matronly clothing, oily, un-madeup face and pale blue eyes brand her as the innocent and sensible one of the pack, making her the subject of their snickering jabs.

At Bartocci’s, the department store where she works, Eilis is overwhelmed by the fast-paced, posh New York City lifestyle that she herself is not the beneficiary of yet. She struggles to ingratiate herself to customers through the elusive art of smalltalk. Above all, she is weak with homesickness, desperate for each letter that she receives.

In spite of the trials of being a young immigrant, she continues to study hard at her night classes in book keeping with the hopes of becoming an accountant, to work tirelessly at Bartocci’s and to establish herself as the favorite boarder. Her drive stems from the recollection of how little life there was for her back home. Her steady path through Brooklyn changes tempo when she meets Tony (Emory Choen), a sweet and gentle Ital-

ian boy who says he “really likes Irish girls” but really really likes Eilis.

For many of the women with whom Eilis lives, finding a man is a Saturday night sport, a sole glimmer of hope for a better life and a measure of self-worth in society. Yet for Eilis, Tony’s presence is spiritually transformative. He illuminates every aspect of her existence, making her become bolder and more effervescent. With him, the home that Eilis had so fervently sought both back in Ireland and in the callous world of New York City finally takes form.

That is, she has a home until tragedy strikes, and Eilis is once again forced to grapple with another painful split of her identity.

Saoirse Ronan’s portrayal of Eilis is perfect. The characters around her also evolve beyond their stock characterizations.

Nosy, shallow women reveal themselves to be women that have been hurt but who accept this hurt as a fact of existence with wise resignation.

Adapted from Colm Tóibín’s novel of the same title, John Crowley’s film beautifully captures the dizzying feeling that one’s life is disseminated across the globe, never to be perfectly consolidated. On a broader level, it portrays the difficulty of struggling to create a home for oneself and the beauty of eventually finding that home for oneself in another person or entity. It depicts the many forms that love can take and the agony that comes with difficult decisions we must make in life. Yet, perhaps most profoundly, it explores the conflict between the people who evoke the past and thereby reconnect you to your roots and those who come from a new world, free from any connection to your past.

The hackneyed themes of home, journey and “small-town girl meets big city” rarely stir any emotion within me. Brooklyn, however, revitalizes the representation of a story that so often seems like a cliche. It is salt on the fresh wound of a girl torn between her college and home life. Far from bleak, the film ultimately shows how perhaps there is an answer, a place for us

Photo courtesy of Sarah Jordan ‘16 Photo courtesy of www.fashiongonerogue.com

“Brooklyn” follows the life of a young Irish woman. that, however imperfect, is still ours.

“Brooklyn” is the sort of film that is easily consumed as though it were cheap entertainment, but it somehow manages to weave in a distinctive profundity that will leave you aching and raw. Its universal language lingered with me and may shape the way I will approach my own difficult choices, my disseminated self and my own uncertain future.

Video Game Makers Focus on Gameplay Significantly More Than Story Lines Youngkwang Shin ’19 Staff Writer Video games as a medium have always kept narrative design in their periphery. This is no surprise, given that they were first designed to function as a virtual playground. Game developers have, for the most of the medium’s history, been understandably too busy programming to concentrate on writing. Giving Mario a believable motivation for breaking blocks and collecting coins was a secondary concern as his jump mechanics were polished over the years. But now the year is 2015, and the famous plumber, like many other video game characters, has remained extremely popular over the past couple of decades. The fastest selling entertainment product of all time is “Grand Theft Auto 5” and military shooters, such as “Call of Duty,” dutifully and reliably rake in profits.

Yet storytelling does not seem to have risen in game makers’ list of priorities. The campaigns of aforementioned bestselling military shooters shrink in every installment, serving as extended tutorials meant to showcase their new gameplay developments and thoughtless jingoism. There is even the current trend of open world videogames as embodied by the “Elder Scrolls” and “Fallout” franchises, in which the sense of exploration and world-building are prioritized above all else, continue to take the hands-off approach to storytelling, opting to have the players imagine their own stories.

It is important to note that these games enjoy not only commercial but also critical success. Fans of the respective series gather in droves and cheer at the announcement of each install-

ment as the reviewers reliably hand out the eights and nines and the game of the year awards. Perhaps this speaks to the relative youth of the medium. No movie or a book franchise could consistently achieve equal commercial and critical success through cinematography or beautiful language alone. Yet in video games, poor storytelling is expected and overlooked.

As someone who has wasted away too many hours playing video games, I think this is a glaring issue that the medium desperately needs to resolve.

One might argue that the main point of video games is the gameplay rather than the story. After all, historically, commercially and functionally, gameplay has always been what distinguishes the video game from other media. If “Batman and Robin” or an 1980s Batman comic deliver a boring plot, it is panned because it has missed the mark on its its main goal: good storytelling. But if a game such as “Batman: Arkham Origins” delivers a similarly lackluster plot, it still has the smooth, satisfying combat to offer. This objection deeply worries me, because it means that video games are under no pressure to pursue any artistic ambition in order to stay relevant.

Perhaps one can argue that polished gameplay is in itself an artistic ambition. But to me that just does not seem to be the case. Gameplay, if it is indeed art, does not seem to offer the same level of artistic experience that a good story can. Gameplay is about getting from one point to another. It is busywork.

If a game can make that busywork seem fun through shooting, jumping, punching, talking, walking and racing, it is a game with good gameplay. And the actions taken to ameliorate the busywork can be more and more refined as technology improves

Photo courtesy of http://2.bp.blogspot.com

Super Mario Bros Games eventually became Super Mario Kart, a continually evolving and current game.

Photo courtesy of cdn.wccftech.com

Home-Consule Super Mario Bros originated in 1985. over time, but that does not change the fact that it is busywork.

Whether Mario jumps to reach the mushroom or double jumps and floats for a bit with his tanuki tail to reach the mushroom, the fact remains that Mario is reaching for the mushroom.

That is to say, improvements in gameplay ultimately do not change the meaning of the action undertaken in a video game — but a good storyline can. Mario games have the narrative Mario saving Princess Peach from the clutches of the evil Bowser. With this simple set-up, the action of reaching for the mushroom takes on a new meaning: The mushroom becomes a means to an end, not only to finish the level but also to facilitate the rescue of the princess. Now imagine Mario, Peach and Bowser having fleshed out personalities and motivations.

Mario is no longer simply the player avatar: He’s a protagonist.

Peach is no longer simply an anthropomorphic trophy: She’s an imperiled character. Storytelling is in essence the act of creating and interacting with meaning, and as such it serves a purpose separate from gameplay. To place gameplay alone as the centerpiece of game design is an inherently limiting act that deprives the medium of the artistic pleasure that other media can readily offer.

Thankfully, videogames have not yet completely given up on storytelling. The medium is currently at a crossroads. On one hand, games like “Undertale” and “Portal” experiment with ways to tell stories in a way that is native to gaming, through atmosphere and interactivity. On the other hand, we still have the graphically and functionally spectacular “Triple A” releases whose characters and setting ring hollow. It is a tough position for this medium that has been forced to mature too quickly as the popularity of video games has exploded. But it is a choice the industry must face, and to me, it seems that video games should be held to higher standards when it comes to narrative design.

The Amherst Student • December 2, 2015

Sports 9

Women’s Ice Hockey Sweeps Two-Game Series Against Conn.

Photo courtesy of Rob Mattson

Alex Toupal ’18 contributed her first goal of the season in Amherst’s game two victory of their sweep of Connecticut College this weekend.

Devin O’Connor ’16 Staff Writer The Amherst College women’s ice hockey team kicked off the 2015-16 season with a two-game sweep over Connecticut College in its season opening weekend. The purple and white defeated the Camels 1-0 on Friday, Nov. 20, and then secured the series with a 4-1 win on Saturday, Nov. 21.

Captain Erin Martin ’16, as well as assistant captains Eileen Harris ’16 and Caroline Bomstein ’16, led Amherst to their victories.

Impactful junior and sophomore classes are back, and a strong first-year group will help in the hunt for a NESCAC title.

Sophomore goalkeeper Sabrina Dobbins was named the NESCAC player of the week for women’s ice hockey after stellar perfor-

mances over opening weekend. Dobbins recorded 19 saves in a shutout victory in game one and made 24 saves in the second game of the weekend. She finished the week with a .977 save percentage.

Dobbins’ shutout game was sealed as a victory thanks to a goal from first-year Jocelyn Hunyadi. Amherst outshot the Camels 10-7 in the first 20 minutes of play. The final shot of the period was the one that counted. Hunyadi found the back of the net with just three seconds to play in the first stanza.

Brenna Sullivan ’18 and Bomstein assisted on the goal that gave the visiting purple and white a 1-0 lead.

In the second period, Conn. College was given a handful of opportunities to tie up the game. Three player-up situations were awarded to the Camels after Amherst fouls, but the

purple and white killed each of the penalties successfully. Dobbins kept eight shots at bay in the second period as well.

Both the purple and white and the Camels had two extra skater opportunities in the third period. Again, neither team was able to convert on the plays. The game ended as a win for the visitors, starting their season on a high note.

Amherst returned to square off the following day for game two of the series. A strong third period carried Amherst to a decisive victory over the Camels. The visitors put two goals on the board in the final 20 minutes in the 4-1 win.

The purple and white outshot the Camels in the first period, 11-9. Lynndy Smith ’17 notched the first goal on a pass from Sara Culhane ’17 about eight minutes into play. The goal gave a 1-0 the lead to the visitors.

In the second period, the purple and white made good on the power play. When Conn.

College’s Cassie Hunter and Kate Kohl both committed hooking penalties, Amherst saw a chance to extend their lead with a 5-on-3 power play. Martin, assisted by Smith and Caitlyn Ryan ’17, put the puck in the back of the net at the 14:29 mark. The goal gave Amherst a twogoal lead.

However, the Camels responded to the Amherst power play goal with one of its own.

After Miriam Eickhoff ’19 went to the box for roughing, Alex Toupal ’18 followed for tripping during the ensuing penalty kill.

With just three minutes to play in the second period, Conn. College seized the 5-on-3 opportunity and brought the game within one goal.

While the close of the second period equalized the shots on goal at 22 apiece, Amherst came out firing in the third stanza. The visitors outshot the Camels, 20-3, in the final 20 minutes of play.

Sophomore Emma Griese added the third goal of the game for Amherst at the 15:49 mark. She received a pass from Culhane before she found the back of the net and extended the lead to two goals.

In an attempt to score, the Camels pulled their goalie at the end of the game.

This worked in favor of Amherst, however, when Toupal scored on an empty net with under a minute in regulation. Jamie McNamara ’19 and Ryan assisted the final purple and white score.

With the wins, Amherst begins its season with a 2-0-0 run. The purple and white return to play as they travel to Trinity for two games, one on Friday, Dec. 4 at 7:30 p.m. and the second on Saturday, Dec. 5 with puck drop set for 4 p.m.

Photo courtesy of Rob Mattson

Sabrina Dobbins ’18 earned NESCAC player of the week honors for her efforts this weekend.

Women’s Swimming and Diving Men’s Squash Starts Season with Picks Up Two NESCAC Wins Upset of Western Ontario Jason Darell ’18 Managing Sports Editor Over Thanksgiving break, the Amherst women’s swimming and diving team got off to a great start to the season, defeating both Colby and Wesleyan to begin its campaign 2-0. Against Colby on Saturday Nov. 21, Amherst finished the meet with a final score of 149-108.

The purple and white outright won 12 events, including both individual and relay events. Amherst started off the meet in strong form, winning the 200-yard medley relay with a time of 1:50.58.

Swimming in this event were Emily Hyde ’16, Destin Groff ’17, Sarah Conklin ’16 and Stephanie Moriarty ’18.

In addition to swimming in the 200-yard medley relay, Moriarty and Hyde each won two individual events. Moriarty finished in first place in both the 100-yard backstroke and the 200-yard backstroke, with times of 1:00.4 and 2:12.38, respectively.

Hyde won both the 100-yard and 200-yard breaststroke events, with times of 1:07.25 and 2:24.02, respectively.

In her first meet of her collegiate career, Katie Smith ’19 won both the 50-yard freestyle, and the 100-yard freestyle. She finished with times of 25.27 and 55.21, respectively.

Jacqueline Palermo ’19, Geralyn Lam ’18 and Livia Domenig ’19 each also won individual events at the meet. Palermo was victorious in the 1-meter diving event, with a score of 191.65. Domenig won the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:58.83, while Lam tallied a win in the 220-yard butterfly, finishing in 2:10.49.

Rounding out the victors for the purple and white was captain Charlotte Chudy ’16, who won the 1,000-yard freestyle with a time of 10:53.52.

On Monday, Nov. 23 the purple and white traveled to Middletown, Connecticut to faceoff

against Wesleyan. Amherst won 11 events en route to a 163-118 victory in the second meet of the season.

The purple and white impressively claimed the top-three spots in five events: the 100-yard backstroke, 200-yard freestyle, 50-yard freestyle, 100-yard freestyle and 100-yard breaststroke.

Moriarty continued the impressive start to her season by finishing in first in both the 50-yard and 100-yard backstroke events. Her times were 27.43 and 58.75, respectively. She also played a part in Amherst’s winning squad in the 200-yard medley event, along with Hyde, Conklin and Smith.

Bridgitte Kwong ’18 had an impressive start to her collegiate career, finishing second in the 100-yard backstroke with a time of 1:00.67 and earning first in the 400-yard IM event with a time of 4:36.67. In the 100-yard breaststroke, Hyde finished first, with a time of 1:06.03, right in front of senior Hannah Hummel and Smith, who finished with times of 1:08.86 and 1:09.47, respectively.

In the 50-yard breaststroke, Hyde recorded another victory with a time of 30.42, while Smith finished in second with a time of 31.31 Amherst also claimed the top-three places in the 200-yard freestyle, with Domenig leading the way by finishing in 1:55.95.

Chudy and Marie Maxwell ’18 were right behind her with times of 1:59.52 and 2:01.75, respectively.

The purple and white claimed first and second place in the 100-yard butterfly event, with Conklin and first-year Sarah Wishloff finishing with times of 57.91 and 1:01.18, respectively.

Zoe Pappas ’19 began her collegiate career with victories in both the 50-yard and 100-yard freestyle events. She finished the 50-yard race in 35.13 and the 100-yard event in 54.06.

With such a strong start to the season, Amherst looks to be a contender this season in the NESCAC and beyond.

Cole Steiger ’19 Staff Writer Men’s squash, ranked 23rd nationally entering the season, kicked off a promising 201516 campaign on Friday, Nov. 20 when they hosted no. 19 Western Ontario. This matchup presented an opportunity for a minor upset and a statement to Amherst’s foes in the NESCAC and beyond that they were poised to make some noise this year.

Amherst came out on top 6-3, with key victories from faces new and old. Senior captain and returning First Team All-NESCAC selection Noah Browne collected a default victory at the No. 1 position, while Cameron Bahadori ’18 bounced back impressively from a 6-11 loss in his first set to win the next three 11-6, 11-3, 11-8 for a 3-1 victory at No. 2.

The key win earned Bahadori a nod as NESCAC co-player of the week. Peter Woolverton ’17 provided the dagger for Amherst in a 3-1 (8-11, 11-5, 11-5, 11-0) win on the No. 9 court.

The young Amherst team saw important contributions from a handful of newcomers in their first collegiate action. Lucas Sheiner ’19, playing in the No. 6 position, recorded a 3-2 triumph in a grueling five-set match. After going up two sets to none, Sheiner lost consecutive sets 9-11, 9-11, only to flip the script for an 11-7 victory in the match’s decisive fifth set.

Harith Khawaja ’19, debuting on the 5th court, secured a dominant 3-1 win (11-3, 10-12, 115, 11-3). First-year David Merkel got in on the fun as well with a Bahadori-esque comeback.

After falling 3-11 in the first set, Merkel grinded his way through three close sets 12-10, 119, 12-10 for a 3-1 win and a spectacular debut at the No. 3 position.

Western Ontario, playing in what was al-

ready their 12th match of the season, including a November tournament, actually won 5 out of 8 opening sets (excluding the default at No. 1), but simply could not keep up with Amherst late in matches.

The purple and white will see their next action on Saturday, Dec. 5 when they collide with MIT in Cambridge, their last matchup of 2015.

After breaking for the holidays, Amherst will pick action back up with a slate of NESCAC matchups including a meeting with Hamilton on Friday, Jan. 15 at 3 p.m. and a doubleheader against Connecticut College and Colby on Saturday, Jan. 16 at 1 p.m. and 3:30 p.m. respectively.

Photo courtesy of Rob Mattson

Noah Browne ’16 returns in the No. 1 spot for Amherst.

10

Sports

The Amherst Student • December 2, 2015

Women’s Cross Country Sends Two Runners to Compete on National Stage Drew Kiley ’18 Managing Sports Editor The Amherst College women’s cross country team sent two runners to the NCAA Division III Championship on Saturday, Nov. 21.

Savanna Gornisiewicz ’17 and Lizzie Lacy ’19 each notched top-75 finishes in the race at Lake Breeze Golf Course in Winneconne, Wisconsin.

Gornisiewicz claimed 65th place at the national meet with a time of 22:06.06. She finished a strong junior season with one of her

best performances of the season, bettering her time at Division III championships last year by 14 seconds with an average mile time of 5:56.

Lacy concluded her first season with the purple and white by finishing with a time of 22:10.50. She finished 10th among first-year runners.

NESCAC archrival Williams took the national title, placing all seven of its runners within the top 100 with a team score of 81.

Abrah Masterson of Cornell College claimed the individual title, finishing with a mark of 21:23.10.

Men’s Ice Hockey Posts 2-1-1 Record in First Week of Competition Sarah Wagner ’19 Staff Writer The men’s hockey team started the season off with a strong 2-1-1 week, which included their first NESCAC victory, a come-from-behind win, a hard-fought out-of-conference loss, and a back-and-forth tie. The season opener was a tight game against Hamilton and ended in a 3-1 victory.

The first period went scoreless, but only 1:44 had passed in the second when sophomore Thomas Lindstrom sent a pass from center ice to linemate David White ’18, who netted Amherst’s shorthanded goal.

This lead lasted through the end of the second period and was widened when sophomore Will Vosejpka put a rebound behind the Hamilton goaltender six minutes into the third. Hamilton responded just two minutes later, however, with a shot by forward Conor Lamberti off a power play face-off win.

Amherst regained their two-goal differential with 4:39 to go in the game when White (assist) and Lindstrom (goal) combined for another rebound goal.

The third period was the most competitive of the night, filled with a flurry of shots from both sides, but Amherst held on to secure the win.

Tuesday afternoon’s contest was a back-andforth battle, but Amherst came out ahead, 4-3.

The purple and white found themselves behind opponent St. Michael’s College twice over the course of the game but managed to fight back, with two first career goals aiding the effort.

Amherst started the scoring with a first period goal by senior Xavier Louis Reed, assisted by first-year John Festa and Chris Roll ’17.

Six minutes into the second, St. Michael’s

evened the score and then took the lead towards the end of the period. Seconds before the buzzer, though, Amherst’s Jack Fitzgerald put in the tying goal with a shot off an offensive-zone faceoff win by Lindstrom. At the very beginning of the final period, St. Michael’s again took the lead, which they retained until Topher Flanagan ’16 scored mid-period to tie up the game, followed five minutes later by the go-ahead goal (Roll from Max Roche ’19 and Patrick Arena ’16). St. Michael’s pulled their goalie, attempting to use a man-advantage to prevent their loss, but were ultimately unsuccessful.

Only eight minutes into Saturday afternoon’s 6-3 loss against Elmira, Amherst found themselves down by two goals. This gap was widened at 17:29 through the second period, which was marked by multiple penalties on both teams, when Elmira’s Alexander Taulien found the back of the net.

Amherst fought back, however, with a Conor Brown ’16 goal, helped by White and Lindstrom, at then end of the period. Entering the final 20 minutes of the game up 3-1, Elmira added another tally only 41 seconds into the period. Amherst worked hard to even the score, posting 41 shots by the final buzzer to Elmira’s 27, but even Lindstrom and White’s goals, which sandwiched two Elmira goals, could not make up the 3-goal differential that lasted through the final buzzer.

Amherst and Nazareth started the game off strong, with a goal each in the first period. Amherst’s came off a power-play, scored by first-year Phil Johansson, assisted by Theo Hannah ’16 and Chris Roll. The rest of the game was filled with nine total power plays, but neither team could manage the go-ahead goal. In the five minutes of overtime play, Nazareth posted three shots to Amherst’s zero, but the teams stayed locked at 1-1, resulting in the game finishing in a tie.

Photo courtesy of Rob Mattson

Sophomore forward David White has contributed four goals and two assists in four games so far this season for the purple and white, good for a team-leading six total points.

ATHLETE SPOTLIGHT

Cameron Bahadori ’18 Favorite Team Memory: Beating Wesleyan at Wesleyan — in front of their big and boisterous crowd Favorite Pro Athlete: Roger Federer for being Roger Federer Dream Job: Ambassador to Switzerland Pet Peeve: Bad drivers Favorite Vacation Spot: Anywhere warm and sunny Something on Your Bucket List: Win the mega-millions lottery Guilty Pleasure: Eating a large sized popcorn at the movie theater Favorite Food: Sushi Favorite Thing About Amherst: UMass dining hall How He Earned It: In the men’s squash team’s first match of the season, Bahadori came back from a 6-11 deficit to win the following three sets and finish with a 3-1 victory. Amherst went on to score an upset victory against No. 19 seed Western Ontario.

Because of his outstanding play, Bahadori was recognized as the NESCAC co-player of the week for the first time in his collegiate career.

Sabrina Dobbins ’18 Favorite Team Memory: Our end of the year scavenger hunt last year Favorite Pro Athlete: I really admire Jonathan Quick but I’m loyal to Tuukka Rask Dream Job: Doing something I love to do Pet Peeve: When people don’t push their chairs in when they leave the table Favorite Vacation Spot: My lake house Something on Your Bucket List: Travel to every continent Guilty Pleasure: Napping Favorite Food: Spaghetti and meatballs Favorite Thing About Amherst: The lifelong friends that I have found here How She Earned It: In her first two games as the purple and white’s starting goalie, Dobbins recorded 43 saves, including one shutout. She played a large part in the two Amherst victories, both against Conn. College, and ensured that the team got off to a strong start of the season. In recognition of her efforts, Dobbins was named the NESCAC player of the week.

Men’s Swim and Dive Opens 2015-16 Season With Two NESCAC Victories Lauren Tuiskula ’17 Managing Sports Editor The men’s swimming and diving team opened their season on Saturday, Nov. 21 with a decisive victory over NESCAC foe Colby and followed up their impressive opener with another conference victory against Wesleyan.

In their meet against Colby, the purple and white picked up their first win by way of a 147-119 score. The team took first place in 11 total events to earn the victory.

Matt Heise ’16 took first place in two individual events to help lead Amherst. He notched a time of 53.19 in the 100-yard backstroke and placed first again in the 200-yard backstroke clocking in at 1:58.28.

Heise also contributed to a medley first-place finish, along with teammates first-year Charlie Seltzer, Elijah Spiro ’18 and Alex Dreisbach ’17. They finished the 200-yard medley relay in 1:37.29.

In the sole distance race of the meet, the 1000yard freestyle, Connor Haley ’17 placed first with a time of 10:09.5 First-year Chris Quinones picked up his first collegiate win and gained nine points for the purple and white. He finished the 200-yard freestyle with a time of 1:48.25.

Fellow first-year Kaison Ifill also contributed a first-place finish for Amherst. He posted a 21.40 time in the 50-yard freestyle.

Rounding out the strong showings from the class of 2019 was Josh Chen, who took first in the 100-yard breaststroke.

Other first-place finishers for Amherst were Sam Spurrell ’18 in the 200-yard butterfly (1:55.15) and Dreisbach in the 100-yard freestyle (49.24).

After the impressive weekend performance, Amherst utilized the momentum the following Monday against Wesleyan. They swept 10 events over the Cardinals en route to the victory.

The 200-yard medley group of Heise, Seltzer, Spiro and Dreisbach again took first improving on

their time against Colby, finishing in 1:35.76.

Dreisbach against took first in the 100-yard free, and was followed closely behind by Jeff Andersen ’16 who took second with a time of 48.53.

In addition to his first-place finish in the medley, Heise took first in two individual events.

He finished the 50-yard backstroke in 24:52.19 and claimed gold in the 100-yard breaststroke (51:89.9).

Ifil and Dreisbach finished back to back in the 50-yard freestyle with times of 21.24.9 and 21.70 respectively.

Greg Han ’17 was the only purple and white swimmer to finish in the top three in the 100yard backstroke. He took first place with a mark of 59.96.

Amherst will compete in Pratt Pool for the first time this 2015-16 season in their season opener this Saturday, Dec. 15. They’ll face an 0-2 Middlebury team. Amherst took last year’s meet by a score of 203-77.

Photo courtesy of David Nam ’16

Amherst won 21 events over the course of their first two meets.

The Amherst Student • December 2, 2015

Sports

11

Women’s Basketball Rolls in First Three Men’s Soccer Survives Elite Eight, Games, Outscores Opponents 251-92 Kansas City Bound for Final Four Play Jason Stein ’16 Assistant Sports Editor

Photo courtesy of Rob Mattson

Ali Doswell ’17 has led Amherst in points in their three games this season.

Kelly Karczewski ’18 Staff Writer The Amherst College women’s basketball team started off its season strong, winning their first three consecutive games by significant margins.

In the seasonopener against Albertus Magnus, the purple and white took an early leap past their opponent, coming out of the first five minutes on an 11-0 run.

The first-half play was led by junior Marley Giddins, who scored 12 points within the first 10 minutes of play.

At halftime, the lead extended to 56-15, and Amherst switched up the lineup with some new faces. First-year J.J. Daniell stood out, going 3-3 from behind the arc to total nine points in her first collegiate game.

More standout play came from junior Ali Doswell, who led all scorers with 18 points, and from Jackie Nagle ’18, who totaled nine rebounds.

Hannah Hackley ’18 also dropped 12 points as well as being a force all over the court, grabbing five rebounds, dishing out two assists and snatching four Albertus Magnus passes. The score concluded at a whopping 97 to 39.

The purple and white continued the momentum into the next day when they took on Farmingdale State and came out with a 60-point score differential. Doswell again led

all scorers with 15 points and sophomore Jenna Schumacher added a career-high 12 points.

In the last game before Thanksgiving break, the purple and white hosted NESCAC rival Wesleyan for a conference matchup in LeFrak Gymnasium.

Amherst kicked off the momentum with an 11-0 lead for the third game in a row, shutting down Wesleyan on the defensive end as well as finishing key shots on the offensive end.

The second and third quarters went much like the first half, and by the end of the third quarter, the score was 58-18. Nagle and Schumacher both pulled down five rebounds.

Points were contributed by multiple players, including Doswell, Nagle, Haley Zwecker ’16 and first-year Meghan Sullivan.

The fourth quarter was much more of an even contest, but the lead Amherst had accumulated in the first three quarters allowed them to still finish the game with a 71-30 win. The victory marks the 113th consecutive LeFrak Gymnasium win for the purple and white. Doswell led scoring for the third game in a row with 17 and also took the crown for assists, totaling five in the matchup.

Amherst has two more non-conference games scheduled for this week. On Thursday, Dec. 3 they’ll travel to take on Eastern Connecticut State. The following Saturday, Dec. 5, they will host Bridgewater State for a 2 p.m. tipoff.

Men’s Cross Country Earns 10th-Place Finish at NCAA Championship Meet Drew Kiley ’18 Managing Sports Editor The Amherst College men’s cross country team placed 10th in a field of 32 teams at the 2015 NCAA Division III championship on Saturday, Nov. 21. Competing at the Lake Breeze Golf Course in Winneconne, Wisconsin, Amherst was led by Dan Crowley ’16, who finished first among Amherst runners and 24th overall with a time of 24:48.4.

Mohamed Hussein ’18 finished second among Amherst runners. The sophomore capped off his excellent season with a time of 24:50 to cross the line in 27th place. Hussein was arguably the Northeast’s best runner this season, winning four individual titles, including both Little Three and NESCAC championships. He also won three NESCAC performer of the week awards and garnered NESCAC All-Conference honors along with multiple national awards.

Raymond Meijer ’17 came next, finishing 70th overall with a time of 25:21.50, and Jeff Seelaus ’16 crossed the line in 25:40.00 to earn 94th place.

Craig Nelson ’18 finished fifth among Amherst runners with a mark of 25:48.10 to claim 156th place overall. Kevin Connors ’17

crossed the line in 25:53.40 to claim 168th, and Tucker Meijer ’19 rounded out Amherst’s scoring runners, finishing in 176th place with a time of 25:55.70.

Entering the meet No. 4 in the national USTFCCCA Coaches Poll, Amherst hoped for a better meet.

“We really underperformed, so I don’t even know what to say,” Hussein said. “I think what went wrong was too much emphasis on winning the whole thing, which led to us underperforming. In short, you can only truly talk about winning if you have a culture of winning, and at the moment we are in the process of establishing that culture.”

The purple and white enjoyed one of its best seasons in recent history, finishing among the best teams in the NESCAC. Amherst loses seniors Crowley and Seelaus, but returns five of their top seven runners next year.

Despite the rough meet, Hussein was optimistic about the team’s prospects for the future.

“I guess the good that came out of it is that we are a consistent team capable of competing on the national stage,” he said. “We can build on our successes over the past two seasons to establish a winning culture that will bear fruits in the future.”

Playing past Thanksgiving and into December for the first time since 2008, men’s soccer looks to make history this upcoming weekend in Kansas City, as the team has a chance to win its first-ever Division III national championship title.

Amherst advanced to its first Final Four since 2008 with a pair of shutout victories two weekends ago on Hitchcock Field, defeating Lycoming, 2-0, in the Sweet 16, and earning a thrilling 1-0 double-overtime victory against Trinity (Texas) in the Elite Eight. Heading into the Final Four, the purple and white stand at 17-1-1 on the season.

On Saturday, Nov. 21, Amherst faced one of their toughest tasks of the season, as they were matched up against Lycoming, a very talented team that was riding a 20-game unbeaten streak heading into play. However, the purple and white handled the situation with aplomb as they struck early against Lycoming and preserved a lead against a talented Warriors team.

Less than 20 minutes into action, Amherst got on the board. Jackson Lehnhart ’17 made a strong throw in and found midfielder Andrew Orozco ’17, who headed it into the back of the net for his fourth goal of the season.

About seven minutes following Orozco’s goal, the purple and white were awarded a penalty kick and had a promising chance to double their lead.

Striker Nico Pascual-Leone ’16 lined up to take the penalty kick and buried it, giving Amherst a 2-0 lead just past midway through the first half. The penalty kick conversion was PascualLeone’s 12th goal of 2015 and his second of the season by way of a penalty kick.

Heading into the halftime break, the purple and white held a 2-0 lead over the Warriors and a 9-4 shot advantage.

Although the Warriors were faced with the 2-0 deficit after the first period, Lycoming did not go down without a fight in the second half. The Warriors outshot Amherst, 9-8, following halftime. However, Amherst was able to preserve its 2-0 lead for the remainder of the game, with the defense stepping up big for the purple and white.

Amherst’s shutout against Lycoming was the 14th of the season for the purple and white’s defense and the 48th in the storied career of senior goalie Thomas Bull, who finished with five saves.

This shutout was particularly noteworthy for Bull, as it propelled him to brake the career Division III shutout record, passing Marc Church, who logged 47 shutouts for Ohio Northern between 2009 and 2012.

Saturday’s game against Lycoming was a big challenge, but Amherst’s Elite Eight opponent was perhaps even more formidable, as the purple and white squared off against Trinity (Texas), the No. 2-ranked team in the nation and owners of a 17-game unbeaten streak, with a trip to Kansas City on the line.

Although the Tigers took the first shot of the game less than a minute into the contest, Amherst responded with four shots of their own over the following eight minutes, three of which were courtesy of junior striker Chris Martin.

In the 18th minute of action, a shot hit the crossbar, a familiar occurrence for Amherst in the Elite Eight, as the purple and white hit the crossbar on several occasions in a heartbreaking penalty kick loss to Williams back in the 2012 Elite Eight. However, this time, Amherst was the beneficiary of a shot hitting the crossbar, as defender/midfielder Brent Mandelkorn ’18 narrowly missed the chance to put Trinity (Texas) ahead, rattling one off the crossbar.

About 15 minutes later, Martin had space on the right side and an opportunity to score, but an aggressive charge by Tigers goalie Chad Margotta ’16 helped keep the game tied.

With 10 minutes remaining in the first half, Amherst had a sizable edge over the Tigers in the number of shots attempted, with neither team having a goal to show for. However, the Tigers responded with three consecutive shots of their

own, narrowing the gap in shots attempted to 9-6 by the end of a scoreless first period.

Both sides came out of the halftime break determined to score and break a 0-0 stalemate.

In the final 20 minutes of regulation, especially, both teams had several promising opportunities to score, but the purple and white and Trinity (Texas) both came up empty in their efforts.

Overall, Amherst and the Tigers combined for 17 shots in the second half, but neither side could put across a score.

In the first overtime period, the purple and white outshot the Tigers, 2-0, as senior forward Greg Singer put a shot wide, while midfielder Bryce Ciambella ’17 attempted a shot that was saved by the Trinity goalkeeper.

Amherst prevented the Tigers from attempting a shot in the first period of overtime and achieved a similar outcome in the second period of overtime.

Early in the second overtime, Pascual-Leone and Singer each attempted shots, but neither could convert on their chances.

Midway through the second period of overtime, Amherst continued their flair for the dramatic as Pascual-Leone found the back of the net for the second straight day. Three consecutive headers off a Lehnhart throw-in, from Orozco to defender Cameron Bean ’17 to forward Aidan Murray ’18, facilitated Pascual-Leone’s 13th goal of the season. His double-overtime goal (his second game-winner in double overtime this season) secured a 1-0 victory and a Final Fourth berth for Amherst.

For the second consecutive day, the defense played particularly well in a shutout victory and Bull had five saves, increasing his career shutout mark to 49 games, the current Division III career record by two shutouts.

Amherst’s double-overtime victory against the Tigers was the fourth time that the purple and white won in double overtime this season; it was also the second game this season in which Amherst won 1-0 in double overtime, after Amherst beat Tufts, the defending national champions, 1-0, on Saturday, Oct. 3.

The men’s soccer senior class made it to Elite Eight three of the four seasons, and this year is the first opportunity for them to play in the Final Four.

Overall, the purple and white performed extremely well against Trinity (Texas), even if they struggled to finish their scoring opportunities.

“I thought we played our best game of the season against Trinity,” coach Justin Serpone said.

“However, we didn’t do a great job of finishing chances. If we want to play Saturday night [for the NCAA National Championship], we need to finish chances against [SUNY Oneonta in the Final Four] because there aren’t going to be many.”

This week, Amherst will travel to Kansas City for the Final Four. On Friday evening at 6 p.m., Amherst will take on eighth-ranked SUNY Oneonta, sporting a 19-3-1 record this season and currently riding a 10-game win streak.

The Red Dragons, who are making their second consecutive trip to the Final Four, have outscored opponents, 12-0, in four games in the 2015 NCAA Tournament. In the Elite Eight, Oneonta State beat Haverford, 1-0, in overtime.

If Amherst is victorious against the Red Dragons, they will be playing for the NCAA national championship on Saturday, Dec. 5 at 6:30 p.m. in Kansas City, and would be facing the winner of the other national semifinal matchup taking place on Friday night — Calvin (24-0-1 on the season and the top-ranked team in the nation) versus Loras (17-4-1 on the season and ranked 11th in the nation).

Even with a chance to win the NCAA national championship very much within reach, Amherst remains focused on its next opponent.

“Our goals remain unchanged — win the next game,” Serpone said. “This was our goal on Sept. 1 when we came into preseason, and that’s still our goal today. Whether its New England College in the first week in September or SUNY Oneonta in December, we just want to win the next game.”

Sports

Photo courtesy of Rob Mattson

Over the course of its first four games, the men’s basketball team averaged 94 points per game as well as 48 rebounds per game as a team.

Men’s Basketball Takes Ken Wright Invite Title, Begins Season on 3-0 Julia Turner ’19 Staff Writer The Amherst men’s basketball team opened its season with decisive wins in its first three games of the year at home in LeFrak Gymnasium. The fifth-ranked squad came out on top after the annual Ken Wright ’52 Invitational Tournament.

During the tournament, the purple and white faced Johnston State College and Worcester State University, outscoring their opponents 201-131 combined. The following Monday, Amherst faced Anna Maria College and won 84-64 to start their season 3-0.

Amherst impressed in their first game on Friday against a tough Johnson State team, putting up double their opponent’s score with the score standing at 104-52 at the final buzzer. The purple and white took advantage of Johnson State’s lack of height, dominating the boards and finishing the game with 59 total rebounds and 10 blocked shots. David George ’17 led the team in rebounds with eight, while Johnny McCarthy

GAME SCHE DULE

’18, Eric Conklin ’18 and Connor Green ’16 each contributed seven. The strong offensive rebounding effort proved vital to Amherst’s success, as 22 of their points were scored off of second chances against Johnson State.

Amherst posed a balanced offensive attack, with Jayde Dawson ’18 and Conklin leading the team with 15 points each, followed by Reid Berman ’17 with 14 and McCarthy and George each with 11. Amherst showed just how deep its bench is on Friday night, with every player seeing at least four minutes of playing time and all but two contributing points.

The Amherst bench scored 45 of the team’s 104 points, and the team had a shooting average of 46.9 percent on the court.

On Saturday, in the championship round of the tournament, Amherst faced a talented Worcester State team and pulled out a 97-79 victory. With more height and a much stronger offensive showing, the Lancers provided a challenge for the purple and white after their blowout game on Friday.

THU FRI

SAT

Women’s Basketball @ Eastern Connecticut State, 7 p.m.

Men’s Swimming and Diving vs. Middlebury, 1 p.m.

Men’s Soccer vs. Oneonta State @ NCAA Tournament, 6 p.m.

Women’s Ice Hockey

Women’s Swimming and Diving vs. Middlebury, 1 p.m.

@ Trinity, 7:30 p.m.

Men’s Basketball @ Emerson, 1 p.m.

Amherst responded to the challenge by continuing to work hard under the boards to grab 49 rebounds, which resulted in 18 second-chance points. George led the team in rebounds once again, with a game-high 11 followed by nine from senior D3hoops.com pre-season All-American Connor Green. After an impressive thirdyear season, Green has done a great job this year as a captain, consciously facilitating the game on and off the court, setting a strong example for this season’s young Amherst squad. He helped lead the offensive attack against Worcester State with 17 points along with Conklin’s game-high 18. Amherst’s bench shone again on the second day, contributing 42 points to the team’s effort and leading the team to the Ken Wright ’52 Invitational title.

Following up the strong opening to its season, Amherst jumped right back into action on Monday, facing Anna Maria at home. The score was close at halftime — Amherst had a seasonhigh 16 turnovers, which allowed Anna Maria to stay in the game. The purple and white held

just a 3-point lead going into the second half of play. McCarthy recorded his first double-double of the season, however, and helped lift Amherst to an 86-64 win over the wildcats. McCarthy led both teams in points and rebounds, with 22 and 10 respectively.

Jeff Racy ’17 and Conklin also contributed to the offensive effort, scoring 16 and 17 respectively, with Racy shooting 42.8 percent from 3-point range.

This Amherst team looks promising, with a talented first-year class that is already beginning to see playing time in the season. First-year Joe Schneider currently trails George with an impressive five blocks in his 13 minutes played over the first three games. As we enter regular season play in December, look to see a high-scoring, fast-paced Amherst offense dominate, while the purple and white stay tough on the boards and take advantage of second chances down low. Amherst’s next game is Saturday, Dec. 5 at Emerson, followed by a mid-week trip to Brandeis University on Tuesday, Dec. 8.

SUN Women’s Basketball vs. Bridgewater State, 2 p.m.

Men’s Squash @ MIT, 4 p.m.

Men’s Track and Field @ Smith Invitational, TBD

Women’s Ice Hockey @ Trinity, 4 p.m.

Men’s Ice Hockey vs. Wesleyan, 7 p.m.

Men’s Ice Hockey vs. Trinity, 3 p.m.